


A "Cure" for a Broken Heart

by Treekianthia



Series: "Miracle Cure" [2]
Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Bravely Default Spoilers, Bravely Second Spoilers, Eating Disorders, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-18 23:49:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14862650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treekianthia/pseuds/Treekianthia
Summary: It’s been over two years since the incident on the Grandship with Ringabel, and Edea has had her fair share of troubles since then. Though she’s always dealt with them on her own, a night in Florem’s inn forces her to admit things she never wanted to. Warning: Contains references of Eating Disorders, specifically BED and Night Eating Syndrome. (Fic Archive: 05/07/16)





	A "Cure" for a Broken Heart

**Author's Note:**

> The following fic was originally posted to outside sources on 05/07/16. It is being posted here for archival purposes and to help document my progress as a writer. More info on myself and my works can be found on my tumblr blog woodland-knight.

Two in the morning; a time that Edea had come to hate. Most people normally slept right through it, but Edea had managed to develop the bad habit of waking up in the early hours of the morning. There were some nights where she was lucky enough to sleep until 4 am, but she couldn't remember the last time she had slept straight through. It was annoying to say the least, but there wasn't much she could do about it. No matter what she did, nothing seemed to ever help her sleep through the night.

Edea knew she'd be lying if she said she didn't know the reason behind it, but it wasn't something she could bring herself to openly admit. There had been a lot going on her life, and she didn't really think there would be anyone who could understand what she was going through. She had found it easier to just keep the problem to herself as a result, even if she knew the dangers of keeping her emotions bottled up, and not even her closest friends knew what she was going through. She also felt they had more important things to deal with than her sleepless nights, and losing sleep didn't matter when the entire world was at risk of being destroyed. For those reasons, she was determined to keep dealing with the sleepless nights and all the problems that came with it on her own.

As a result, it didn't surprise her when she once again woke up a little after 2 am. The room she was in was a lot brighter than it needed to be, but there wasn't much she could do about the neon signs outside. Edea had no idea how anybody could even sleep with such bright lights pouring in, though her roommate didn't seem to be having any problems. Magnolia, whom Edea had been rooming with often, was still lying in the bed across the room and talking in her sleep. Based on what Magnolia was saying, Edea assumed she was having some strange dream about Yew and the moon. It definitely wouldn't have been the first time.

Edea and the others had only recently arrived in Florem, and it had already proved itself to be more chaotic than any of her previous visits. After almost getting killed, somehow winning a stupid contest with Alternis as a result of almost getting killed, and learning about a hidden forest-dwelling civilization, she had become physically and emotionally drained. With everything she had been through, she had been looking forward to a good night of sleep. Unfortunately, her bad habit had obviously gotten in the way of that, and she figured she'd be stuck awake for the rest of the night at this rate.

As she continued to lay in bed, Edea eventually realized that it hard started to rain. She had noticed darker clouds during the day, but she had expected the storm to pass over without a single drop landing in the city. She desperately wished that had been the case, as the light tapping of the rain against the window made her heart sink. A rainy night in Florem only reminded her of the events that had led to her bad habit in the first place. It was one of the most painful memories that she had, and it made her upset every time she thought about it.

One particular night a few years prior, when Edea and her friends were on their way to Florem in the Grandship, Edea had woken up at 2 am with a nasty feeling in her gut. At first she thought nothing of it, but by the end of the night she had realized there was more going on in her life than she had first thought possible. It had started to rain then too, and Edea ended up falling ill a few days later because of it. It wasn't the illness that bothered her now though; it was something more painful. It was the promise the man she had fallen in love with had made to her that night. A promise he had later broken.

Ringabel had promised he would stay with her until the very end, but now he was nowhere to be found.

She still remembered the day he left in perfect detail. He was going to return to his own world to fix what he could, and as soon as he was done he was going to return to her. He had left her his journal and old jacket as a way to remind her of the promise he had made a few months prior, and then promised to be back at her side in as little as six months. It had been two and a half years since he had told her that, and she had yet to see any sign of his return. Edea wondered if he was ever going to return in the first place.

That had been when it had started though, and almost every night after Ringabel had left, she found herself waking up at 2 am. At first it was because she was worried about him, since she didn't know how well he'd handle his depression on his own, but as time passed her loneliness became a part of it as well. She missed him, even if she wasn't going to openly admit it, and that night on the Grandship had been the closest she had ever felt to him. Waking up at the same time almost every night had become her body's way of reminding her of her feelings, and it always made her miserable. There was no use moping around in bed though, since it wasn't going to make her feel any better any faster.

Trying her best to not wake Magnolia, Edea got out of bed, tiptoed her way out of the room, and closed the door behind her. The hall lights of Florem's inn had been dimmed for the night, but it was still bright enough that she could see what was going on. There was a couple standing at the end of the hall, giggling and pecking at each other's cheeks. Edea couldn't help but notice it was a Harenian boy and Eternian girl, and the sight of the two of them admittedly made her feel a bit sick. She took a moment to clear her throat and make her presence known, and soon as the couple realized she was there they quickly apologized and ran off to their room.

Edea sighed and headed down the hall towards the inn's secondary dining area. For a moment she thought she heard somebody calling out for one of her friends, but quickly dismissed it as her imagination playing tricks on her. As she continued to walk down the dimmed hall, she started to notice that the faint smell of alcohol was in the air. She admittedly hated that smell almost as much as she hated waking up at 2 am, so she tried her best to get away from it before it made her nauseous. With her luck though, she'd still probably be sick by the end of the night.

Reaching the end of the hall, Edea entered a small dining area set aside for late night guests. She had always been thankful this inn had a 24/7 buffet, but she felt like she needed this more than ever. Back home in Eternia, she'd always drink three cups of hot chocolate and eat a plate of brownies before trying to sleep again, but that sort of thing was hard to come by when traveling, even with access to a magical tent. She knew she'd have to work all of the junk off in the morning, but she figured they'd run into enough monsters that she could eat the entirety of two cakes without worrying. Her stomach growled just thinking about it.

Though the buffet wasn't stocked with her favorite brand of hot chocolate and the sweets were bland, there was still enough to satisfy her tastes. She piled them onto her plate one after another before grabbing an overly sweetened cup of coffee and sitting down at a small table next to a window. It didn't take long before she was going to grab seconds, and then thirds. By the time she sat down with her fourth plate and third cup of coffee, somebody else had entered the dining area. She didn't see who it was at first, so it caught her off guard when they started talking to her.

"Enjoying your brownies, Lady Edea?" they asked her while sitting down across from her. Edea almost fell out of her chair from shock but managed to stop herself from doing so when she saw who it was.

"Yew!? What are you doing up at this hour?" she asked her slightly younger traveling companion. The boy gave her an odd look.

"I should be asking you the exact same thing, Lady Edea," Yew told her, "but her Holiness woke Tiz and I up when she started screaming his name through the pendant. Who knew her Holiness is afraid of thunder."

"Huh, that explains why I thought I heard somebody calling for Tiz earlier," Edea mentioned while picking up a brownie. "The thunder must be pretty bad near the Skyhold, especially since it's up in the air. Agnès has never really been good with thunder. I remember a time where we got stuck in a storm on the sea and she wouldn't stop wailing because of how scared she was."

"No wonder she was screaming then. I thought something terrible had happened to her when she started yelling for Tiz! I actually fell out of bed trying to reach the pendant, but sir grabbed it before I could," Yew explained while rubbing the back of his head. "I came down here because sir kept telling me I should get ice for any bumps, but I kept insisting I was fine! He refused to believe me though..."

Edea laughed a bit before smiling. "Tiz might be a bit of a blockhead at times, but he knows what he's doing," Edea told Yew. "Back when we were first traveling, Tiz would sing to Agnès whenever we were caught in a bad storm. It was one of the only things that would calm her down, and it actually started during that storm I mentioned. I have no idea how she handled it when he was stuck in his coma, but now that he's back, her first reaction must have been to go to him again."

Edea watched as Yew's eyes lit up. "I never knew that sir could sing! How good is he? Does he sing often? Do you think he could give me lessons?" Yew asked in a flurry of excitement, but Edea just shrugged. She wasn't really sure how to answer any of Yew's questions.

"Tiz doesn't like to sing in front of others, which is probably why he wanted you to leave," Edea explained. "I only know about it because Agnès told me, so I haven't had the chance to hear him myself. He's probably a lot better than I am though."

"I'm sure if you try hard enough you would sound great, Lady Edea!" Yew said in attempts to encourage her, but Edea just laughed again and shook her head. In the distance, there was a loud crack of thunder. She wondered if Agnès could hear it.

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I'm more of a fighter than a singer," Edea reminded Yew. "You should give singing a shot though. I'm sure Tiz can give you some pointers if you ask him enough, and you could always sing to Magnolia for practice. I'm sure she'd enjoy spending some alone time with you."

"A-alone time...?" Yew asked while turning a bit pink. Edea knew Yew could be an even bigger blockhead than Tiz, but he seemed to have understood what she was hinting at. He at least had a basic understanding of how romance worked.

"I can't think of anybody more willing to listen to you, and with how much she talks about you in her sleep I'd be surprised if she said no!" Edea teased while waving her brownie in Yew's face. "Night after night she goes on and on about you! Mumbling about how smart you are and calling you so brave and handsome!"

"Y-y-you're just teasing me now, Lady Edea!" Yew managed to stutter while turning even pinker. Edea couldn't help but laugh at his embarrassment but managed to stop so she could take a bite of her brownie. She didn't mean to tease Yew as much as she did, but somebody had to give him a push in the right direction. Romance could be a tricky thing, and she definitely wasn't a stranger to that. Somebody had to help the poor boy out, even if she couldn't help but be a bit jealous.

"Sorry, Yew! I couldn't help myself," she told him after swallowing, "but I do actually think Tiz would be willing to teach you to sing if you asked him, even if he turns out to not be that good. You could always ask Agnès about it too."

"Sir really cares about her Holiness, doesn't he?" Yew asked while putting his hands in his lap. Edea could see the pink in his face starting to fade away and figured he was trying to change the subject to avoid further embarrassment.

"Mhm, but he shows his love in his own way. He may be too big of a blockhead to actually say 'I love you' to Agnès, but everything he does for her is out of love," Edea explained. "It's like they say, actions speak louder than words."

"....sort of like how Magnolia thought I proposed to her when I gave her the flower," Yew mumbled while looking down. Edea could tell he still felt terrible about that entire misunderstanding, but she couldn't blame the poor boy. Magnolia had honestly thought he wanted to marry her and had even started to prepare for life with him. Edea couldn't help but feel a bit lonely herself when thinking about it, as she secretly wished she could do the same thing for Ringabel, but she wasn’t going to show it. For now, all of that was nothing more than a distant dream.

Trying to forget about her own problems, Edea took the time to clarify things for Yew. "Well, kind of. Think of it like this! Tiz sings for Agnès because he loves her and wants her to feel safe, while you gave the flower to Magnolia to help her. Though both are actions of kindness, only Tiz does it out of love," she explained. "Though it was an act of love in Magnolia's eyes, it wasn't your intention."

Yew gave a small nod. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he told Edea while continuing to stare down. "What about you though, Lady Edea? Has there ever been anybody like that in your life? Somebody whose actions were fueled by their love for you?"

Edea felt a slight pain in her stomach as soon as Yew finished his question. She had just finished one brownie and had grabbed another from her plate, but she quickly put it back down. Everything had suddenly become louder to her, and the light tapping of the rain outside had turned into a loud banging sound in her head. There was another crack of thunder in the distance, but to her it sounded like an explosion and was enough to make her feel nauseous. Without hesitating, Edea quickly rushed over to a nearby trashcan. It didn't take long for her to throw up.

"Lady Edea, are you alright!?" Yew asked in a panic while rushing to Edea's side. Edea had her eyes squeezed shut and felt a burning sensation in her stomach. It took her a minute to be able to respond.

"I'm fine, I just ate too much," Edea assured him while opening her eyes and getting back up. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Yew. I should have been more careful."

"For a minute I thought I had done something wrong! You should go to your room and get back to sleep. You really shouldn’t be up in the first place," Yew pointed out, but Edea didn't listen. She sat right back down at their table and took a sip of her coffee to wash away the taste in her mouth.

"You wanted to know if there's somebody in my life who acts out of love for me, didn't you?" Edea asked while putting her cup down. Yew gave her a worried look.

"That isn't important if you're not feeling well! What would sir and her Holiness say? What about Sir Alternis?" Yew asked with a look of concern. Edea wished he hadn't added that last sentence. Alternis was't really a person she wanted to think about right now.

"I'm fine, Yew," she reassured him while beckoning for him to sit. The pain in her stomach had died down, and the banging had turned back into harmless tapping. Except for a bit of burning in her thoat, she felt the exact same way she did as when she first woke up: miserable, but healthy.

"...just promise me you'll go back to bed if you start feeling sick again," Yew requested while sitting back down. Edea didn't plan to keep that promise, but nodded her head anyway. She was sure she could hold her stomach contents down if it started to happen again.

"You know my freelancer outfit? The blue one? It's actually made from the jacket of somebody whom I was very close to," she explained. Yew seemed to be absolutely fascinated by the fact, despite it not being all that interesting in Edea's eyes.

"Really? Was it the jacket of your other companion? The mysterious and charming amnesiac, Ringabel?" Yew asked with the utmost curiosity. Edea laughed a bit and nodded her head again, a bit a more solemnly than before.

"Mhm. Ringabel, the biggest dork you could ever meet, gave it to me before returning to his own world. It was one of two gifts he gave me, and one of the few things I have left to remind me of him," Edea explained. Yew seemed to be absolutely amazed by the mention of Ringabel, and she assumed it was because he hadn't heard much about him.

"I never knew that the two of you were so close, Lady Edea! It must be so hard on you not having him around," Yew pointed out. Edea could feel the burning in her stomach start to get worse and was trying her best to not get upset. She shifted her focus onto the rain outside in hopes of it distracting her from the sorrow in her heart.

"I've been managing without him," she told Yew, but she was just lying to make herself feel better. She knew she was strong and could do everything she needed to on her own, but every once in a while she wished Ringabel was there to help her. She wasn't somebody who liked to show weakness though, which was another reason she hadn't told anybody about what she was going through, and she planned to keep it up for as long as she could. She didn't want to become a burden to any of her friends, even if it killed her.

"Did you love him, Lady Edea?" Yew suddenly asked her. Edea felt her heart sink again but managed to hold back any tears that were trying to form. She had already spent enough time crying over this.

"If I did, then I guess I could have said my freelancer outfit is made out of boyfriend material. Who knows, maybe he didn't give it to me, maybe I made him strip down to his underwear and stole his clothes instead," Edea joked in order to avoid answering the question. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Yew was giving her an absolutely horrified look.

"You didn't actually do that, did you!?" Yew asked with a tone that matched the look on his face. Edea couldn't help but bust up laughing.

"Honestly, I was only joking, Yew! He gave me his jacket out of his own free will, and thankfully it was big enough for me to make something out of it when I outgrew my old clothes," she explained while looking back over. "He was nine inches taller than me at first, but now he'd only be seven."

"I find it a bit odd that you chose to make an outfit out of it in the first place," Yew admitted. Edea shrugged but knew Yew was right about it being a bit odd. She had just never given it a second thought.

"Just think of it as my way of keeping him close to me," she told Yew. It was the best explanation she could think of and probably the most accurate. She had spent many nights snuggled up to Ringabel after listening him go on about his struggles and accomplishments, and most of the time she woke up with his jacket wrapped around her while he was off getting breakfast for them. It was something familiar to her, and it brought her comfort; however, thinking about it now was doing the exact opposite.

"I'm interested in learning more about Ringabel if possible! Sir and her Holiness haven't told me much, so he's an absolute mystery to me," Yew explained while smiling. Edea, however, had lost interest in the conversation.

"Maybe another time, Yew..." she told him while poking at the sweets on her plate. Her voice had become quiet, and it was obvious something was upsetting her. She was starting to wish Yew hadn't bothered her in the first place.

"Lady Edea, are you feeling alright? You suddenly seem very distressed," Yew told her while frowning. "Are you feeling sick again?"

"No, I feel fine. I'm just thinking about something," she explained while continuing to poke at her sweets. The rain outside had gotten worse, and she could hear late-night vendors running for cover. Lightning flashed right outside of their window and illuminated the entire room before fading away.

"Is it okay if I ask you one last thing then, Lady Edea?" Yew asked before yawning and stretching. Edea had forgotten for a moment how late it actually was and realized she was getting tired herself.

"Go ahead, but make it quick," she told him in response. She figured she had been up long enough that she might be able to get back to sleep, and boy did she look forward to it. She wondered if her friends would let her sleep for a week after they day she had.

"Why did Ringabel give you his jacket in the first place?"

Edea stopped in the middle of stretching her arms and gave Yew a wide-eyed stare. _ After everything she had just explained to him, he still didn't understand what she was getting at?  _ She had to bring up painful memories just to talk about all this, and all of it had visibly upset her. Out of all the questions Yew could have asked, it had to be the dumbest one. She couldn't stop herself from getting angry at him.

"Don't you get it, Yew? Ringabel giving me his jacket is like Tiz singing to Agnès! He did it because he loved me, and whether or not I felt the same didn't matter to him!" Edea suddenly snapped at him. She was letting her emotions get the better of her and wasn't thinking things through.  _ This wasn't going to end well. _

"I-I'm sorry, Lady Edea! I didn't mean to upset you!" Yew apologized in a panic. Edea knew she was angrier than she needed to be, but she was letting her anger boil over. Thunder boomed as she slammed her hands down onto the table.

"Everything he ever did for me was fueled by how he felt, and he was willing to sacrifice his own happiness for mine! Even when he was struggling, when he was hurting, he always put me before anything else! I was his angel, his everything! And he left me!" Edea yelled while banging her hands down again and knocking her coffee off the table. The glass shattered as soon as it hit the floor and a soggy mess was left to stain the floor. Yew was left in complete shock by the sudden outburst and was absolutely terrified.

Edea didn't know why she had admitted this to Yew of all people, but she had let her feelings bottle up inside so long that she hadn't been able to stop herself. Tears were streaming down her cheeks now, and she started to hold herself in attempts to calm down. It felt like the night on the Grandship all over again, but now  _ she _ was the one crying her heart out and there was nobody there who could comfort her. Ringabel was an entire world away, and even then she had no idea if he still cared about her. She wondered if it was suffering like this that had caused Ringabel to drink...

She knew it was the reason why she had started eating to the point of making herself sick.

She didn't know exactly when it had started, but it had least been a few months after Ringabel had left. She had woken up early like always, but instead of staying in her room like she normally did, she had gone off to eat for comfort. Her family had just had a party, so there were plenty of leftover sweets for her to choose from. It had been brownies though, and as soon and she started to eat them she couldn't make herself stop. She could no longer tell whether or not she was getting full, and it didn't take long before she was doubled over on the floor.

She knew it wasn't healthy for her, and as soon as it started she tried her best to make up for it. She ate regular meals during the day, made sure she exercised frequently, and limited what she ate in the day to no more than thirds. It had been in vain though, and every time she ate in the middle of the night she would just make herself sick again. Eventually she figured she should just stop eating so late, but she couldn't help herself. Food had become her source of comfort and she couldn't give it up so easily.

Still in tears, Edea could barely make out anything that was happening around her. Her head was pounding and she could feel herself starting to get sick again. She hadn't really eaten anything between this and the prior incident, but the pain she felt in her heart was enough to upset her stomach again. Not wanting to risk it, she quickly made her way back to the trashcan and knelt down next it. She could feel somebody pull her hair back when the nausea finally got the better of her.

"You should really pay more attention to what you're eating, Edea. It won't do you any good if you keep eating food that's gone bad," a somewhat muffled voice told her when her stomach calmed again. Edea kept her head down and didn't even bother looking back. She could tell who it was from the voice alone, and she wasn't happy with them being there.

"Alternis, I really don't need you to lecture me right now," she complained while trying to take deep breaths. Alternis was a part of the reason her day had been chaotic, so having him here didn't make things any better for her. He was the last person she wanted to deal with right now.

"My apologies, Edea. I only came to the inn to get out of the rain, and I just happened to hear shouting from the entrance hall. I had no clue it was you until I got here," he tried explaining to her, but Edea wasn't stupid. She knew there had to be more to it than that.

"Alternis, it's two in the morning," she reminded him before coughing a bit. "I honestly doubt that was your only reason for being here! Why were you even out still in the first place!?"

"Stop talking or else you're going to make yourself sick again," Alternis warned while letting go of her hair. Edea wasn't done talking, but she knew Alternis was right. It was better for her to keep her mouth shut until her stomach stopped hurting.

"She's been sick twice tonight, Sir Alternis. The first time because she ate too much, and the second because I upset her, which I promise I didn't mean to do!" Yew mentioned from a few feet away. Edea groaned and tried to keep her head up. Now Alternis surely wouldn't leave her alone until he knew she felt better.

"Don't worry, Yew. I know it wasn't your intention to upset her," Alternis assured him before turning his attention back to Edea. "How often does this sort of thing happen, Edea?"

"I thought you said no talking," she snarked before quickly realizing that was a mistake. She could feel parts of Alternis' armor digging into her scalp while he pulled her hair back again.

"I understand what I said, Edea, but I need you to tell me if this is a reoccurring problem," Alternis told her as he pulled back strands of hair he had missed. Edea could tell he was getting angry and let out an annoyed sigh. She figured she had to lie to get out of this one.

"This is the first time it's happened, and it was a complete accident," she told him while trying to not get angry herself. She already had to worry about him bothering her for the rest of the night, and she didn't want to have to also worry about him finding out what she had been going through. Alternis may have been her friend, but she didn't think he'd react well to her problem. She didn't think anybody would.

Alternis turned his attention back to Yew, who was cleaning up the mess left by the coffee. "Go tell the others that Edea has the flu and that I will be paying for her to stay in another room," Alternis ordered. "She is not to be disturbed for the rest of the night."

"Y-yes sir, Alternis sir!" Yew stuttered before finishing cleaning up and heading back into the halls. Once Yew left, Alternis helped Edea back onto her feet, but she quickly found she had to lean against him just to keep her balance. All of this vomiting had made her feel weak.

_ But the flu? That was rich.. _ . At least she didn't have to worry if that's all Alternis thought it was. She could get back to sleep, feel fine in the morning, and then she and her friends would be on her way. Alternis and the others might worry about her for a bit, but in time they'd forget about it. If she were lucky enough, they wouldn't even bother her in the morning about what had happened.

"I noticed you were crying," Alternis mentioned while walking Edea to the front desk. "You don't have to explain now, but I would like to talk with you about it later."

"It was just the stomach pain," she tried to convince him while wobbling alongside him. "It's a pretty bad stomach bug if it's enough to make me cry."

"Yes, we'll be talking about that later, too," Alternis told her while continuing to help her walk. Edea tried her best to not show any signs of panic.  _ Did he actually know what she was going through? And if he did, how did he figure it out? _

Once they reached the front desk, Alternis had Edea sit in a small chair while he talked to the woman working it. Edea wasn't really paying attention to what they were saying, but she could hear him mention something about the two of them being this year's Flower Maiden and Bloom Groom.  _ Ugh, that stupid contest...  _ She was grateful to Alternis for protecting her from that ghastly Geist, but he was letting the fact they had won go to his head. She could feel her stomach starting to burn again, but she couldn't tell if it was because she was upset or angry. In the end, she figured it was probably a mixture of both.

"I managed to get you a room on the top floor," Alternis told her when he walked back over. "It's a couples suite, but that hopefully isn't a problem."

Edea groaned and rolled her eyes. "Really, Alternis? You couldn't have gotten me anything better? I'm sick with the flu, not on my honeymoon!" she complained while trying to get up. Alternis had to grab her before she fell over.

"It was free for the Flower Maiden and the Bloom Groom, and I wasn't going to pass up that offer! I'm... A bit tight on funds right now," Alternis admitted as he steadied Edea out.  _ Well, at least she wasn't the only one with money problems. _

"Ugh, fine, but I'm not letting you share the bed with me! If anything, you're sleeping on the floor!" she told him with a bit of a harsh tone. She was starting to think she was being a bit too mean to him, but there wasn't much she planned to do about it. Alternis, however, didn't seem too bothered by it.

"I'm only staying until you fall asleep, and then I'm leaving," Alternis explained before starting to lead Edea to the stairs. "I know you don't really want me around right now."

"Ah, no! I didn't mean it like that! I just uh.. Don't want you getting sick!" Edea quickly told him. She was starting to feel bad for complaining to him, even though he didn't seem to care, but she didn't want him to blame himself for her problems, especially since it wasn't his fault.

"No, no, I understand. It's probably better this way, Edea," he tried to assure her. Edea, however, still felt bad for what she had said. She unknowingly tensed up as a result, causing her to squeeze Alternis' arm. She was surprised to hear him wince in pain.

"Are you alright, Alternis??" she asked, a bit concerned she had injured him more than he already was. Alternis nodded and continued to move forward without missing a beat.

"The wound in my arm re-opened when protecting you earlier today, but I've managed to get the bleeding to stop," he explained to her. "It'll be fine as long as I give it the proper time to heal this time."

Edea looked down at Alternis' arm and could indeed see he had been bleeding again. His undershirt had dark splotches from the fresh blood, and there were additional tears from the earlier attack. Miraculously, the blue ribbon she had originally given him for the wound appeared to be clean and unharmed. She had no clue how he had managed to do it, but there wasn't a spot of blood on it. Perhaps he had just washed it though and did well enough of a job it didn't stain.

"I see you kept the ribbon I gave you," she pointed out while continuing to look at it. She could feel Alternis tense up a bit, and she wondered if he was blushing. It was impossible for her to tell with that helmet on his head though. She wondered if she could get him to take it off.

"I, w-well.. The wound was still healing, and I didn't think it would do me any good to take it off, and... We should hurry to the room before you get sick again!" Alternis blurted out. Edea started to laugh at his eagerness to change the subject, but stopped when her stomach started to churn again. Her stomach was admittedly more sensitive than normal, but she had no clue why it would be. Maybe Alternis was actually right and she did have the flu.

By the time they had reached the couples suite, Edea had become a bit feverish and Alternis had resorted to carrying her. The burning feeling in her stomach had once again started up, and this time it was accompanied by the chills. It felt like somebody had decided to cast both Fira and Blizzara on her at the same time, and it definitely didn't feel good. She was starting to ache all over too, which wasn't helping either. She couldn't help but feel relieved when Alternis finally put her down on the bed.

"Are you comfortable?" Alternis asked while sitting on the edge of the bed. Edea nodded and rolled herself into the blankets. Despite the small fever, the warmth still felt good on her aches and pains.

"This a lot better than the cheap rooms downstairs," she told him while starting to relax. "The beds in those make me feel like I'm sleeping on a bunch of jagged rocks."

"Some bed is better than no bed. I was glad just to even get one from a cheaper inn," Alternis mentioned while shrugging. It was then Edea realized she still had no idea what Alternis was doing out so late in the first place.

"Hey Alternis, why were you out at this hour anyway?" she asked him while sitting up in the bed. She noticed him shift uncomfortably and started to get the feeling something was wrong.

"Ah, I... I wasn't doing anything important," he tried to convince her, but Edea just gave him a deadpan stare. It looked like they were doing this the hard way, yet she couldn't help but notice he sounded a bit sad.

"Nobody out of their right mind would be up this late. You had to do have been doing something!" she whined while throwing her arms up a bit. She may have been feeling sick, but it wasn't going to stop her. She had gone through this sort of questioning with Ringabel before, so she wasn't afraid to go through it with Alternis too.

If only she had realized how big of a mistake that had been sooner.

"You say that, yet you're up as well," Alternis pointed out to her. Edea quickly shut her mouth and lowered her arms into her lap upon realizing he had a point. She hadn't really explained her reason for being up either. For a moment, the only thing the two of them heard was the sound of the rain.

"Well, yeah, but...!" she said a minute later in attempts to find the right words. She could at least say it was because she couldn't sleep, but knowing Alternis, he'd start asking more questions. Sometimes she wished he didn't care about her as much as he did.

"And that brings me to the fact you weren't being truthful earlier," he told her while standing up and crossing his arms. He looked more menacing than he normally did with the light coming in from the window. Well, a Dark Knight in full armor would scare anybody if he were standing right above them, but the neon lights reflecting off his armor made it a bit more terrifying.

"W-what do you mean?" Edea asked with a bit of fear in her voice. She didn't want Alternis to realize she was afraid of him right now, so she puffed out her chest a bit to show confidence. It didn't seem to be working though.

"How often do you get sick?" Alternis asked her again. His voice was stern, but Edea swore she could still hear a hint of sadness. It didn't matter what she heard though because she could feel herself starting to clam up. She didn't know if it was nerves or the fever, but she knew she needed the trashcan again.

"Trashcan... G-get me the trashcan!" Edea begged while doubling over and covering her mouth. The pounding in her head had once again started, and this time it felt like something was yelling inside of her head. Something scared and lonely, something that was suffering, something that felt exactly like she had for so many nights.

Edea didn't know how long it had taken for her to stop throwing up, but her mouth and throat were burning by the time she stopped. She had the worst aftertaste in her mouth, and no matter how much she tried it wouldn't go away. She was in tears again, but she didn't know if it was from the pain or the emotions that were threatening to tear her apart. She felt as if somebody had stabbed her in the stomach and twisted the knife, and the emotions she bottled up for so long made her feel useless and frail. Both were painful in their own ways, but together they made things even worse.

Edea had felt these pains night after night, yet this was the worst it had ever been. She felt like she was about to break beyond repair, and the thought of that terrified her. It was all starting to become too much for her to bear on her own, and she couldn't keep it inside any longer. Somebody had to know how much she had been suffering. Somebody had to know the truth.

"Two... Two or three nights a week... Sometimes four if it's really bad..." she quietly muttered while handing the trashcan back to Alternis. He had been holding her hair again, so he let it gently fall back down before taking the trashcan and placing it on the floor. He took a minute before speaking.

"...and when did it start?" he asked with a bit of a crack in his voice. Edea looked down at her hands, not wanting Alternis to see how much of an emotional mess she had become. She wasn't sure how well Alternis would take it.

"Two years ago, after... After you-know-who left..." she admitted before sniffling a bit. A few tears hit the blanket below her and she quickly wiped her cheeks before more fell. 

"...it was him, wasn't it? He broke your heart, didn't he?" Alternis asked while clenching his fists. "He left you all alone and now you're suffering because of it... That's why this is happening, isn't it?"

Edea didn't know what to say. She knew Alternis was right, but she couldn't bring herself to admit it to him. If anybody knew about a broken heart, it was him, but it didn't help that  _ she _ was the one who broke it. It must have been just as hard for him to hear about all this as it was for her talk about it. He must have suffered just as much as she had, or maybe even more knowing how deeply he cared about her. She desperately wanted to change the subject.

"He was a fool for leaving you," Alternis suddenly told her. He had moved over towards the window to look out at the stormy sky, and for a moment Edea thought she heard him crying.

"I'm the fool for falling in love with him," Edea admitted in a whisper. "If I hadn't woken up that night, maybe things would have been different..."

"What do you mean, Edea?" Alternis asked while looking back over at her.  _ Of course he wouldn't know, he wasn't there...  _ She wasn't sure how to explain it to him or if she even could. She wondered if he would even understand.

"Do you... Believe in miracles, Alternis?" she asked him a minute later while thinking back to that night on the Grandship. It was an odd way to start her explanation, but she had to try something. Alternis looked back out the window and thought for a moment. The light from outside illuminated the blue ribbon on his arm.

"...I think there are situations where miracles can occur, but not everything can be solved with one," he told her without bothering to look back again. "Why do you ask?"

"One particular night, a few years ago.. I learned the hard way there is no such thing as a miracle cure," she tried to explain to him. He still wasn't looking back at her and didn't seem interested in responding, so she continued, "I had to witness one of the worst breakdowns I'd ever seen, and by the end of it I felt like my heart had broken in two. Sometimes... Sometimes when I eat, I think about what could have happened if I had done things differently. What it would have been like if I had just stayed in bed..."

"What it would be like if you didn't have a broken heart..." Alternis muttered under his breath. Edea wondered if he was cursing out Ringabel in the depths of his mind, but she didn't really want to find out. She was still crying a bit, and him yelling would only make it worse.

Edea and Alternis sat in silence once again while Edea tried to find the right words to say to him. No matter what she said, it would all loop back to what she had been going through and the role Ringabel had played in it. She knew there was no such thing as a miracle cure, but she desperately wanted one to help end her suffering. She didn't want to keep eating herself sick, but she didn't know what to do. She wanted a miracle to happen, something she had stopped believing to be possible...

She wanted Ringabel to come home.

_ If Ringabel came back, everything would be okay, right?  _ She could finally sleep through the night, would stop getting sick, and could be happy again.  _ Yes, it was the perfect cure for her broken heart...  _ The thought of finally being happy again made her tears well up once more, and unfortunately had a similar effect on her stomach. She didn't bother asking Alternis for help and managed to get the trashcan off the floor on her own. Despite it, he still moved back over to hold her hair again.

"You can't keep doing this, Edea. You need to get help," he told her with a worried tone. "You can't keep suffering like this!"

"Suffering... All this suffering..." Edea muttered while starting to tune everything out. She had become weak and fragile from the repeated incidents, and Alternis started to worry even more.

"You need to tell your friends about this, Edea! They can help you get through this!" Alternis tried to convince her, but Edea still wasn't listening. She was too wrapped up in her own mind to care.

"I'll only suffer until the day Ringabel returns... But everything will be okay when he's back at my side..." she told herself while curling into a ball. Alternis noticed she was digging her nails into her skin and tried to stop her.

"Edea, listen to me! Even... Even if Ringabel were here, he wouldn't magically be able to fix things! He'd be upset to see you like this!" Alternis told her as he tried to get her to come back to her senses. Edea, however, remained oblivious to him.

"Upset... Ringabel is always upset.. No matter what I did, he always hid his pain from me..." Edea continued to mutter. She curled up into an even tighter ball and was on the brink of a complete breakdown.

"Edea, you need to stop talking like this! Everything will be okay if you just listen to me! You won't have to suffer anymore!" Alternis yelled as he shook Edea, who started to retaliate.

"Ringabel had to suffer through so much, and I couldn't help him! No wonder he never came back for me!" she yelled as she grabbed Alternis' arm and tried to push him down. Trying his best to ignore the pain, Alternis took his free arm and put it on her shoulder.

"I said listen to me, Edea!" Alternis yelled back. "Ringabel wouldn't want you to suffer!  _ I _ DON'T WANT YOU TO SUFFER!"

Edea snapped back to reality and slowly let go of Alternis' arm when she realized she was still holding it. Tears were still streaming down her cheeks, and she ended up hugging Alternis as tight as she could without poking herself on his armor. She felt him gently rub her shoulder as he whispered something to her, but she couldn't quite make it out. It sounded like some sort of apology, but she couldn't be certain. He wasn't the one who needed to apologize though.

"I'm sorry... Alternis..." she quietly apologized between hiccups. Her voice was a bit muffled against his armor, but it was still clear enough that he could make out what she was saying. "I'm sorry for keeping all of this bottled up for so long..."

"Please, Edea... Tell me what's on your mind so I can help you... I don't want you to suffer anymore," Alternis told her as calmly as he could. He sounded like he was in pain, but his arm didn't seem to be bothering him anymore. Edea wondered if hearing her talk about Ringabel had broken his heart all over again.

"Alternis... Can you... Can you promise me something...?" Edea asked while pressing her cheek against Alternis' armor. It was cold and stung her face a bit, and it was so thick she couldn't even hear his heartbeat.

"What is it, Edea? I'll do anything if it helps you," Alternis assured her as he moved a strand of hair out of her face. Edea took a deep breath and tried her best to not turn into a mess of tears again.

"Promise me... That when you love somebody, you won't be afraid to tell them..." she requested. She could feel Alternis shifting his weight and figured she had made him uncomfortable. She knew it was because he was in love with her, and even more so since he knew she didn't feel the same way. She didn't regret asking this of him though.

"A-and why are you asking this of me?" Alternis asked before coughing awkwardly. Edea took another deep breath and looked towards the window. The rain still had yet to let up, and she figured it would still be there in the morning.

"On a rainy night just like this, I had the chance to tell somebody I loved him... But I didn't," she admitted while letting her tears fall like the rain. She didn't need to explain more than that, as Alternis knew what she was getting at. Perhaps if Edea had confessed that night on the Grandship, Ringabel would have still been there, and none of this would have happened. Perhaps they could have been happy together, and Alternis happy for them.

"...I need you to promise me something too," Alternis told her after another few minutes of silence. Edea looked at him and swallowed nervously.

"What is it...?" she hesitantly asked. He hadn't said anything else about the promise she wanted him to make, so she was worried things were about to take a turn for the worst.

"...You need to promise me you'll tell your friends that you get sick, Edea. They can help you try and stop all of this from happening again. It'll take time, and I can't guarantee it'll be perfect, but you can at least try to do something about this," Alternis told her while finally returning her hug. Edea loosened her grip and looked away again.

"I.. I don't know if I can, Alternis," Edea admitted to him. She was ashamed of herself for letting it get as bad as it had, but it didn't make talking about it any easier. She thought she finally understood why Ringabel had kept everything bottled up.

"I'm not taking no for an answer, Edea," Alternis told her while trying to get her to look back at him. "You need to get help, and your friends are the best people to go to for it!"

"What... What if doesn't work, Alternis? What if they can't do anything? I had always told myself I was strong and that I could get through this on my own... But I was wrong! I'm not as strong as I thought I was, so how can you be certain I'll be any stronger?" she asked as she continued to look away. Her voice cracked a bit from the crying, even though the tears had almost stopped again. Alternis finally managed to get her to turn back to him and kneeled down to be at her eye level. He could see her face clearly, but she wished she could see his too.

"Edea Lee, you are by far the strongest person I have ever met, even more so than your father," he started to tell her. "I have seen you take down hundreds and hundreds of people and creatures who are three times your size and still have enough energy to go to an all-you-can-eat buffet. You are strong enough to get through this with your friends' support, and you don't even need to tell them everything about why this is happening. Just tell them that it is, and they will help you. Everything is going to be okay, I promise."

"B-but... I'm not that strong anymore! You keep saying I am, but I'm not!" she stuttered out while more tears began to fall. Alternis reached out and gently wiped her cheek. He tried his best to not scratch her with his armor.

"You are stronger than you think, Edea. The fact your heart is still beating is proof enough that you are strong enough to get through this," Alternis told her. For a moment, Edea felt like she was spending the night with Ringabel again. She remembered thinking the same thing about him every time she comforted him, and knowing Alternis thought the same of her brought her the comfort she had desperately wanted. She couldn't help but hug him again.

"D-don't get mad at me if I can't do it.. I promise I'll try, b-but please... Promise me it'll be okay..." Edea quietly requested. Alternis once again put his hand on her shoulder **.**

"I promise you everything will be okay. I know you, and you're a fighter, so you're not going to go down easily," Alternis assured her. His armor still felt so cold against her skin.

"P-please, Alternis... Promise me..?" she asked him again. Alternis took a moment to take his hand off her shoulder and clasp her hands in his.

"I promise you, Edea. I promise you as much as the stars promise to come out at night and the sun promises to shine during the day. After you open yourself up to them, you are going to get better," he reassured her. Edea gave him a tiny nod and let out a shaky breath. She thought he was being strangely poetic, but she still appreciated his kind words.

"I'll.. I'll do what I can," she promised him. For a second, she thought he was smiling, but she couldn't tell with that stupid helmet on him still. Whatever it was, it felt warm and comforting.

"That's all I can ask of you then. You'll need to get a lot of rest before you feel up to it though, so you should try to get back to sleep. You've had a rough night and a lot more to deal with tomorrow," Alternis reminded her as he let go of her hands. Edea nodded again before wiping her tears one last time and finally laying back down. She could really start to feel exactly how tired she was, and she definitely thought she could sleep through the entire week if somebody let her. She heard Alternis move the trashcan next to her bed.

"Alternis, I don't plan to throw up again anytime soon," she complained while starting to pout.  _ They had just had an emotional moment about her getting help, and this is how he treated her?  _ It irritated her that he expected her to just keep getting sick. She should have taken off his helmet and punched him in his pretty face.

"Even so, I'll still worry. I always worry about you, Edea," he told her. "Whether you're on the verge of tears or just a bit banged up, I can't help but worry until I know you're okay."

Upon hearing his words, Edea stopped pouting and started avoiding his gaze. "Well... What if I'm not getting any better? What if I'm an absolute mess? Will you still help me?" she asked him. She was starting to wonder if this was all a one time thing or a coincidence caused by timing. Alternis, however, didn't see it as either.

"No matter where I am, know that I will soon be back at your side to make things better," he told her. Normally those words would upset Edea, but there was something in the way he said it that made her know he was telling the truth. She was glad she could trust him.

"...thank you, Alternis. For everything," she told him while smiling. It was the first time she had smiled in front of him that night, and she hoped it meant good things were to come. Even if things didn't go perfectly, she still felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulder.

Alternis gave her a small nod. "For you, I will travel across this world and many more," he told her with a bit of a bow. A second later he straightened up and laughed a bit. "Just promise me you won't go eating any brownies cooked in the kitchen of a shady inn again. I can only do so much about food poisoning."

Edea rolled her eyes. "I don't know about the flu or food poisoning, but I've definitely decided to only eat sweets made by those who hate them from now on," she told him while laughing a bit herself. It was nice to joke around a bit after what happened between them.

"Hm? And why is that?" Alternis asked with piqued interests. Edea rolled on her side and hugged one of the pillows. She was definitely ready to sleep.

"Because they only make them for people they love, so they always try to make them taste as good as they possibly can. The ones here tasted like cardboard," she mentioned while closing her eyes. She felt Alternis tuck her in before hearing him head for the door.

"Hm... I'll keep that in mind then," he told her with a small laugh as he opened the door to leave. "I think I know a girl I can bake sweets for, even if I already know how she feels about me."

"I still think she'll eat them, no matter how she feels," she assured him while starting to doze. It was a bit odd, as Alternis didn't sound as upset as he normally did over his feelings for her. Perhaps it meant he was finally moving on from his own broken heart. Maybe it meant she could do the same too.

"You really think so? I'm glad to hear that... But good night, Edea. Sleep well, and may we see each other again soon..."

Edea heard a click as Alternis closed the door and another as he locked it from the outside. She figured he'd just slide the key under the door and she could pick it up in the morning. Though things hadn't gone as she expected that night, she was glad to have at least found comfort. As she drifted off to sleep she could feel her fever slowly going away and heard the rain finally start to calm down. It seemed things might start getting better for her soon after all.

It was strange though. As she heard Alternis walk farther and farther down the hall, she realized she still had no idea why he had been out in the first place. She figured she'd never know though, and didn't think it really mattered anymore. However, in Edea's last moments before falling into a dreamless sleep, she could just barely make out a familiar smell...

A smell that she hated almost as much as waking up at 2 am every night...

_ The faintest hint of alcohol. _

**Author's Note:**

> Another fic that was originally posted to Tumblr a few years ago. This is the longest fic that I've ever written, so I like to think of it as my favorite. Unfortunately, I always feel like I could have done more in-depth research for it and wish I had at the time. If I were to ever go back and rewrite this fic, more research is definitely the first thing that I would have done.


End file.
